New Orleans Tourist Visitors Report for 2018: The Most Important Stat Was Missing

In a Times Picayune article dated 6/30/19 by Jennifer Larino titled, City Drew 11.6 million visitors last year, UNO reports told of a study by UNO's Annual Visitor Survey that reported the following:  (1)  New Orleans hosted 11.6  million visitors in 2018, up 5.5% from last year in 2017 that drew just under 11 million.  (2)  Visitors spending was $8.3 billion, up 11.7% from 2017.  (3)  The increases marked another year of growth for the city.  Those numbers tell a good story.

But the most important story was absent from the report.  And that story should have been how much sales taxes did that $8.3 billion of spending generate for the city treasury.  And then check and see if those taxes were collected by the city.  Certainly UNO has a way to calculate the answer just like they came up with the tourist information above.  And like wise, the City of New Orleans has a way of telling if they collected those taxes.

It should be obvious to everyone why it is so important to know the answer.  In fact, this writer thinks it is a question UNO should have been asked before the paper ran the story.  After all, tourism is just another business that produces tax revenues in order to fund the city's needs and the people have a right to know the tax numbers and be informed.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio